If you’re going to have one of your top run producers miss the playoffs with an injury, it helps to have your No. 1 run producer step up and continue to hit like he has all season.

Senior Lucas Whitehill has been the offensive leader for Mira Costa’s baseball team all season, and continued that trend in the playoffs after slugger Jake Jelmini suffered a broken jaw in a freak batting practice accident before the postseason.

The 6-foot-6 Whitehill has led the way for a group of hitters who have spurred Mira Costa’s playoff run, which continues at No. 1 Glendora in the CIF Southern Section Division II semifinals this afternoon.

“Everyone has really rallied around Jake’s injury,” Mira Costa coach Cassidy Olson said. “Everyone has played a role and they have been executing and coming together as a team after losing such a great individual player.”

Whitehill’s presence is the No. 1 reason Mira Costa’s offense has stayed potent through Bay League play and into the playoffs, where it has scored 21 runs in three games.

“He’s been the key to our season,” Olson said.

In the regular season, Whitehill batted .409 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs.

His two home runs against rival Redondo the first time the teams met helped Mira Costa earn a 14-10 come-from-behind win. Whitehill’s second home run keyed an eight-run seventh inning against Peninsula.

“We’d lost to Peninsula before that for our first league loss, and we were playing badly in this one,” Whitehill said. “But we came back, everyone hit in the last inning, and we overcame adversity.”

Whitehill also broke a tie when he hit a three-run home run in the second round of the Division II playoffs against No. 4 Cypress, and Mira Costa went on to win, 8-3.

“I have full confidence in our pitching, but if we’re not hitting, we’re not going to win,” Whitehill said. “It was 0-2, I choked up and used the pitcher’s velocity to take it out of the park.”

Whitehill has nine home runs on the season. He would have 10, but he hit one in a four-inning fog-shortened game against Loyola in the Redondo Tournament, and the game was replayed from the beginning the next day with all the records from the four-inning game thrown out.

Either way, Olson said Whitehill broke the school record, which was seven.

But it’s not just power that makes Whitehill such a dangerous hitter.

“Beyond his power, his best asset is he uses the whole field,” Olson said.

“He has a unique way of using his hips and arms, everything works together.”

Beyond his hitting prowess, Whitehill is not your average ballplayer. He’s a standout student who is going to study and play baseball at Brown University. He also has a goofy side that helps keep the team loose.

“Lucas is a different dude,” Olson said. “He’s really smart, he’s a big goofball and he’s even-tempered, which is suited to baseball. We have some football guys with that football mentality, which doesn’t always work well in baseball, where there are so many ups and downs. He’s the same whether he’s 0-for-4 or 4-for-4.”

Whitehill said the kind of dedication he shows in the classroom helps him on the field.

“I can use my head on the mound as far as what to throw to hitters. And in batter’s box, I think about my past at-bats.”

Whitehill has not had to pitch in the playoffs as yet because Robert Parucha and Drew Van Orden have been sharp. But Olson would not hesitate to go with Whitehill, who has 70 strikeouts in 46<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>3 innings.

“We had him warming up in all three playoff games, but Robert and Drew straightened themselves out in time and have done a tremendous job for us,” Olson said.

Parucha, Van Orden and Whitehill have combined to throw more than 85 percent of Mira Costa’s innings this season.

“I wouldn’t call him our third guy, it’s more of a three-headed monster,” Olson said. “Lucas actually has the best numbers. If we need him, we’ll call on him.”

When Whitehill was an underclassman, he had trouble handling the ups and downs of baseball, but not anymore.

“He used to pout on the mound, he showed his emotions,” Olson said. “But he’s done a great job changing that completely.”

Whitehill, who was named the MVP of the Bay League, is primed to lead the Mira Costa offense – and pitching staff, if necessary – against No. 1 Glendora as the team tries to reach its first CIF final since 1982.

“We’re facing a great team, we just have to keep confident and not be afraid,” Whitehill said. “If we keep hitting the way we have been, we’ll be OK.”

Dave Thorpe is the local sports coordinator for the Daily Breeze. He has been covering local sports in the South Bay for the Daily Breeze since 2006. He previously was the sports editor at the Palos Verdes Peninsula News.

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